Rome Journal; Hitler's Watercolors Too Hot for Italy's Comfort

By ALAN COWELL,

Published: November 20, 1992

ROME, Nov. 19—
They may not have shaken the art world, or even caused a quiver, but watercolors by the young Hitler, due to be auctioned in Italy, have stirred other passions, evoking neo-Nazism in Europe, drawing protest from Germany and inspiring a ban on their export, whoever buys them.

The collection of 20 small paintings -- 19 said to be genuine and one certified false by the SS -- is set for auction as a single lot in the northeastern city of Trieste on Friday night. The auctioneer's estimate of the value of the collection is more than $250,000.

The small and undistinguished renderings of churches, street scenes and buildings were painted in the period before World War I from 1910 to 1914.

This is not the first sale of Hitler's watercolors, but it has drawn Italy's national Government into a debate, forcing Culture Minister Alberto Ronchey in Rome to order that the paintings may not be exported, and stirring some comment from prominent Jews here, too. "They are horrible, almost childish; they could have been drawn by a child or an adolescent," said Tullia Zevi, president of the Union of the Italian Hebrew Communities, which represents Italy's 35,000-member Jewish minority. But she said: "I would prefer that no big sensation be raised about this because with this atmosphere in Europe, I don't think it should be. We have enough problems."

Hitler lived in Vienna from 1908 to 1913. Despite artistic pretensions, he twice failed to win a place at the city's Academy of Fine Arts. To make a living he painted postcards and advertisements. But no one, not even the people selling them, credits his watercolors with much artistic value. 'No Artistic Value'

"They are rather wishy-washy postcard views of Vienna and Munich," said Stephen Cristea, the British auctioneer who is to conduct the sale. "They are reasonably decorative. I might cross the street to look at them out of curiosity, but I wouldn't go any further."

Before he died last week, the Italian art historian Carlo Giulio Argan dismissed them, too, saying, "Their only value lies in the fact that they show how a dictator can also be an imbecile."

And Giorgio Morales, the Mayor of Florence, where the watercolors were kept for many years, said they had "absolutely no artistic value."

But that is not the point at issue.

At the insistence of Mr. Morales and Florence's director of culture, Pierluigi Baldini, the Italian Government issued an injunction this week saying the buyer of the paintings may not remove them from Italy. The order also empowers the authorities to buy them back at the price they fetch at auction. Germans Are Not Amused

"We cannot accept that this collection of watercolors be broken up and bought by a neo-Nazi group, which is the worst hypothesis, or an American millionaire," Mayor Morales said at a news conference in Florence on Tuesday.

"It's clear we were worried that these watercolors could be taken to Germany and shown in an exhibition which would prompt political initiatives," Mr. Baldini said.

Even that is disputed. "Any neo-Nazi who had one of these in his hand would be bored out of his mind," Mr. Cristea, the auctioneer, said, pointing out that the paintings hailed from a period long before Hitler aspired to dominate the world through Nazism.

The debate has drawn in German officials, too.

Citing the "huge historic interest" of the paintings, Mr. Morales suggested that instead of being sold, the Hitler collection should be placed on permanent exhibition in the Uffizi in Florence, one of the world's most celebrated art galleries, alongside masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance.

The idea elicited a response from the German Minister of Culture, Ulrich Roloff-Momin. "This is an intolerable provocation to good taste and to all victims of fascism," he wrote to Mr. Morales in a letter made public in Germany today. How They Got to Italy

Displaying the watercolors in the Uffizi, Mr. Roloff-Momin said, would turn the gallery into a "place of pilgrimage" for neo-Nazis. Of all the watercolors, possibly the most contentious in this sense is a depiction of the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, said to have been the same beer hall that was used as a gathering place for the Nazis in the early days of their movement.

By tonight, the Mayor of Florence had apparently gotten the message, transmitted not only by Mr. Roloff-Momin, but also by Jewish groups in Germany and Italy. Whatever happened, he said, the collection would not be displayed in the Uffizi.

The association with Hitler is particularly embarrassing for Italy, since Mussolini led the country into a wartime alliance with the German dictator.

The collection of watercolors is being sold by Imelde Riviero, the sister of the late Rodolfo Riviero, an Italian official who earned the nickname 007 of the Art World through his efforts to track down looted Italian art in Germany and Austria after World War II.

There are several versions of how he came upon the Hitler watercolors. One is that the wife of Martin Bormann, Hitler's personal secretary, gave them to him. Another is that he found them hidden behind a bunker.

Mr. Riviero bequeathed the watercolors to his sister, and they were left for many years at the Uffizi for safekeeping. They are now on display at the Trieste hotel, where the auction is to be held.

Nobody is taking too much notice of them, Mr. Cristea, the auctioneer, said. "It's as if people were ashamed of being seen looking at them."

Photos: Hitler in 1914, when he was a soldier. Between 1910 and 1914, Hitler painted a series of watercolors, some of which will be auctioned today in Trieste, Italy. This 1910 Vienna scene is not among those in the auction. (European; Associated Press)